Tel Aviv housecleaning service advertises higher rates for European help than Africans

Flyer distributed in North Tel Aviv advertises cleaning rates based on whether cleaner is European or African



This flyer was reproduced on Facebook and in a story in the Hebrew press in Israel: It is an advertisement for a Tel Aviv housecleaning service that offers “solutions”. They do not employ Palestinians for “security” reasons and the prices listed, 49 NIS per hour ($12 an hour), 52 NIS per hour ($13) and 69 NIS ($17) based on the employed person race! And all the workers are referred to as women.

49 NIS – for a foreigner of African descent
52 NIS – for a foreigner of eastern European descent
69 NIS – for a resident (Israeli ID holder) of eastern European descent

+972 has picked up the story too. “The advert, which was distributed in one of Tel Aviv’s most affluent areas, was first posted on Facebook by political blogger Tal Schneider, who was given the flyer by an acquaintance,” reports Natasha Roth. The ad explicitly asks, “Not prepared to have an Arab cleaner for security reasons?” Well, this is the solution.

But remember, Beinart and the other “liberal” Zionists keep telling us about this fairyland called “democratic Israel”. It’s a total myth, of course.

Israel within the green lines is a Jim Crow state. This is why the obsession with the West Bank and the 2SS is reproduced for the same reason Netanyahu kept the Iran deal on the table for as long as possible: to divert from the real issue. In Netanyahu’s case it was the occupation/Apartheid, and for the “liberal” Zionists it’s to divert from Jim Crow.

Iraqi or other Arab Jews or Iranian Jews are not on the list. Looking at the categories on offer, the closest one they would fit in would be “Not prepared to have an Arab cleaner for security reasons?”

Not repeated in the comment part was that Ostyiddish Jewish cleaning ladies cost 17 shekels more than the non-Jewish Russian-or-so, who in turn “only” cost 3 shekels more than non-Jewish Africans. Unless someone more fluent in Modern Hebrew reads it otherwise.

The hierarchy is based on race and ethnicity, not religion because that makes zero sense in real-world implementation of any form of social hierarchy. As such, a Black Ethiopian Jew would theoretically be treated slightly better than a Black non-Jew, just for the sake of appreciating the system in place. IOW, she will be treated better, but not really because those in the upper class believe she deserves to be, but because treating her better will validate and legitimize the social hierarchy that they espouse and benefit from. Does this make sense to you?

I see some similarities how white people treat blacks. In America they are given substantial worker rights and benefits and blacks are seen as equals but the same white people would have no qualms about extracting hard labor from under-aged black kids in Africa. Do you agree?

disgraceful but not surprising.
when we are on the subject of ethnic wage discrimination

in the US

A racial wage divide exists in the front-line retail salesforce.

Retail employers pay Black and Latino full-time retail salespersons just 75 percent of the wages of their white peers, amounting to losses up to $7,500 per year.
Retail employers pay Black and Latino full-time cashiers about 90 percent of the wages of their white peers, amounting to $1,850 in losses per year.
Retail employers pay 70 percent of Black and Latino full and part-time retail sales workers less than $15 per hour, compared to 58 percent of White retail workers.

considering that the pay gap, level of poverty, unemployment rate etc for black vs white americans is wildly different, seems like US employers don’t need to publish their pricelists or scaled salaries. we already know what they are.

this looks like a case of “shared values” if i ever saw one. despicable.

I realize my opinions aren’t often in-line with much of the readership here but I actually agree that this is despicable. It is just too bad that the policies of one individual private company are singled out when you have entire Arab countries with far more discriminatory policies against Jews and Israelis that, of course, get a free pass. Abu Mazen himself has stated that not a single Jew will be permitted to live in his fantasy world called Palestine. That is OK though, right? Like his predecessor before him, he is of course far more interested in squirreling away as much stolen money as he can at the expense of his people… Not fighting for their interest. So, this is really just an academic discussion, isn’t it?

“It is just too bad that the policies of one individual private company are singled out when you have entire Arab countries with far more blahblah”

Could you be any more predictable? We joked in the comments above how Zionists would rush in to say that “at least it’s better than x”, and here you are. Bravo, you stuck to the script.

If you want to pretend you’re a first world democracy, you will be judged on those merits.

The very fact that this is COMPLETELY LEGAL in Israel really says a lot, doesn’t it? The fact that a person can LEGALLY discriminate in rent, hiring and openly state it is because of ethnicity/race/religion indicates a very deep sickness.

“Abu Mazen himself has stated that not a single Jew will be permitted to live in his fantasy world called Palestine.”

Why do you lie? How do you defend something which requires you to constantly lie for? Abu Mazen never said anything about not being a “single Jew” in Palestine, he said no SETTLERS.

There is a world of a difference, and it is the RIGHT of a sovereign country to not have hundreds of thousands of people living in it illegally, especially ones that have made life hell for Palestinians for decades.

Go rethink your life. Look in the mirror and do some soul searching. You needed to make up lies to defend what you hold dear. You couldn’t defend it with the truth. Let that sink in.

What did I tell y’all? Our Hasbarists are as predictable as rain at a picnic.

Also think about our Herchel lecturing the PA on corruption. He seems to have forgotten that an ex-president is serving time for rape and an ex prime minister is about to serve time for corruption. Pot let me introduce you to the kettle.

Herchel – I thought that Israel was suppose to be a democracy. You are saying that we should judge Israel not on first world standards, but on (I assume) third world “Arab countries”. Not only that, but you used a racist formulation to make your point. “Arab” indeed.

So you first stated that the correct way to judge Israel is not on the basis of democracies, but on the basis of theocracies and dictatorships. I’m with you so far – in spite of using racist slurs against “Arabs”.

Then you justify the racism by bringing up the actions of Abu Mazen. shorter: “Well look – someone else is doing it. Why don’t you leave poor Israel alone and go pick on someone else.”
With this type of attitude the US would still be practicing slavery. You lost my support here.

You say a single private company – but your argument is very different. You in effect support what you claim to oppose by bringing up whataboutyry. You recognize that Israel is not a democracy, but a theocracy and a dictatorship and should be judged accordingly.

Someone else is worse than Israel so what Israel does is ok by you.

No, it is not just a single private company. It is a country that should be judged on the basis of other totalitarian regimes – preferably “Arab” ones – I assume like Saudi Arabia. It is Herchel who despite finding it despicable, holds their nose and supports it through obfuscation anyway.

‘I realize my opinions aren’t often in-line with much of the readership here…’ Don’t be so modest Your opinions are never in line with most of the readership here – isn’t that your point for posting here in the first place, instead of JPost or Arutz Sheva? You started out correct ‘I actually agree that this is despicable’ but sure enough, the very next sentence you double down with your usual BS and finally end with a yawn. You hardly find it despicable as you defend it in with the rest of your post. The PM of israel is a moral beacon? The government is full of whoremongers, thieves and liars -the settlement enterprise is one giantic pot o’gold and called out by the happy little zionista, Stav Shaffir. And your point is again? With proof this time?

Can I ask – for future reference – if you think that the appropriate context in which to judge Israel is by comparison with Arab countries? Because if I was discussing alleged discrimination in, say, the UK, I woudln’t compare it with Arab countries, but with other liberal Western democracies like, say, Sweden or Germany. I take it that, by choosing to compare Israel with Arab countries, you are agreeing that Israel is not in fact a liberal Western democracy and should not be considered as such?

Or to put it another way… you give Arabs a pass because, after all, they are Arabs and we couldn’t possibly expect them to conform their behavior to the rest of the civilized world? Is that not what you’re saying? Why not just acknowledge your bias against Jews so you don’t have to advance such poorly thought out alternative explanations for your hypocritical views.

“Herchel”, “…when you have entire Arab countries with far more discriminatory policies against Jews and Israelis that, of course, [get] a free pass.” Apart from the predictable whataboutery you Hasbara’im use to deflect criticisms of sacrosanct Israel, this statement is a nonsense. I assume you refer to the Gulf Peninsula states not all “Arab countries” (which include such as Morocco). Yes, in the Gulf States it is legal to advertise employment and offer services based on the ethnicity of the applicant/provider. Advertisements by migrant residents for their own domestic servants often specify not merely a nationality but a regional provenance for applicants. But, “Arab countries with… discriminatory policies against… Israelis”? I have news for you: the Gulf States don’t recognise Israel and there are therefore no Israelis (legally) here, against whom to discriminate. The last time I was aware of any Israelis in the GCC was when they entered the UAE on stolen, Australian passports and stayed briefly at the Al Bustan Rotana in Dubai for the purpose of assassinating someone.
I have further news for you: the Gulf States do not pretend to be Western or democratic. Where can you point to Sheikh Khalifa or King Salman describing their nations as “democracies”? Israel, on the other hand, never ceases to crow [sic] about being the lone beacon of democracy amid a sea of theocratic tyrants in the Middle East. You cannot have it both ways: if Israel were a 1st-world democracy, the comparisons would be with the standards of other Western democracies; if the valid comparators are the [Gulf] Arab nations then it is an admission of the truth, namely that Israel is at a similar level of discrimination – but with arrant hypocrisy thrown in.

Western Democracy is a sham and built from theft and genocide. If according to you Israel is not actually a western democracy but more of a Middle Eastern conservative government, I don’t see why on Earth would that be a bad thing. On the contrary, it would actually a positive endorsement of Israel. Please recall, the poster child of Western Democracy, Denmark recently tried to confiscate personal items of Syrian refugees as their way of helping them.

When Zionists criticize Arabs or Palestinian for something they do why aren’t they required to point out all the other ethnic groups, races, cultures, countries, etc. guilty of similar behavior? I have never heard anyone say to them, “You think those stabbings are bad? What about what happened in Rwanda? Why do you hate Palestinians?”, or “Pfft, a few rockets, what about what the Khmer Rouge did to the Cham and Chinese minorities there? Why do you hate Palestinians”

Exactly. So a handful of Israelis – most of them illegal colonists or occupation soldiers – have been stabbed (usually non-fatally) by Palestinians? Big deal. Why should anyone in the West be concerned, when there are much worse things happening every day?

Another variant on this is the old refrain “Oh, the Middle East is just a cesspool of violence and irrationality, so I say we should just let them kill each other. Not our problem.” 9 times out of 10, the people who put forward this ‘argument’ would be the same people who clutch their pearls every time a Palestinian so much as Israeli ‘settler’ the wrong way.

Support Mondoweiss’s independent journalism today

Mondoweiss brings you the news that no one else will. Your tax-deductible donation enables us to deliver information, analysis and voices stifled elsewhere. Please give now to maintain and grow this unique resource.